Childhood Obesity Prevention through Serious Videogames in Barakaldo

Abstract

Introduction: Childhood obesity and overweight are growing alarmingly at a global, state and a regional level, in Bizkaia. It is a public health problem because the excessive accumulation of fat in the body can lead to develop numerous pathologies in the adulthood. The cause of this increase has several aspects as risk factors, among which are having an unhealthy lifestyle related to nutrition and physical activity. Therefore, it is necessary to implement a health promotion project that is really geared towards children through the tool they best master, videogames.

Objective: Prevent the development of obesity in children (a decrease of 37%) from 9 to 14 years old in the municipality of Barakaldo, Biscay, through the use of the ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) to promote a healthy lifestyle related to nutrition and physical activity on a community and familiar level.

Methodology: A health promotion project is developed in which the child population of 5 randomly chosen schools of Barakaldo and their parents will participate. An smartphone application with an integrated serious videogame will be created to carry out the intervention. The project will approach healthy lifestyles using the Precede-Proceed activity planning model. The evaluative plan includes the process evaluation, evaluation of the results and impact evaluation.